Some key highlights are: expenditures related to normal course of business and those that directly benefit employees and their families are excluded from the mandatory CSR spend. Further, companies not compliant with the required mandatory expenditure would have to “cite reasons for non‐ implementation”, as per the proposed legislation.
Nevertheless, while these regulatory developments signal a highly visible public commitment to CSR by Indian authorities, they have also been hotly debated with resistance from many private sector firms. It is argued that a more voluntary approach may better achieve the intended objectives of CSR through business‐led initiatives than the regulated model which appears to still be based on an altruistic approach (Vijayaraghavan, 2013). In terms of reporting on CSR, the guidelines accompanying the Companies Bill as released in February 2014 state that at minimum an annual report on CSR is needed for the financial year commencing after 1 April 2014 with disclosures on firm CSR policy, types of projects planned, expenditure amount and an explanatory statement if the firm did not meet the required minimum spending. Prior to this policy document, the guidelines for CSR reporting in India tended to be more general. For example, the 2009 NVG on CSR (MCA, 2009b) merely states: